New Gear - adh-fishing€¦ · fisherman.co.uk MARCH 29 - APRIL 25 | TROUT FISHERMAN 79 TECH-SPEC...
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TECH-SPEC MODEL: 10FT 6WT Price: £199.99 Weight: 122gr (4.3oz) Sections: 4 ■ Full wells cork handle with composite cork band top and bottom; fixed cor composite cork fighting butt; anodised alloy double ring uplocking reel seat ■ Matt olive green blank with clear gloss whippings ■ Two lined stripping guides, eight single-leg snake rings, tip and keeper ring. ■ Zip-top cordura covered rod tube with carry handle and partitioned interior MODEL: 9FT 6IN 7WT Price: £199.99 Weight: ■ Tackle Tester’s Choice Easy-casting Onki is a pleasure Vision Onki rod £199.99 www.guideflyfishing.co.uk New Gear Everything from rods to waders & fly patterns Independent tester Robbie Winram puts the latest gear through its paces THE Onki rod range (Onki means rod and line in Finnish) consists of 11 models from a 7ft 6in 3wt to a 10ft 7wt, covering everything from rivers to stillwaters and reservoirs. I had a 10ft 6wt and 9ft 6in 7wt for review and although these were prototypes, only the handle and reel seat will be slightly different designs in the full production models. Set up with a matching 6wt floating line, the 10ft 6wt certainly felt light and comfortable in the hand and the first few casts loaded the rod quickly with very little fuss. Straight away it felt very much like a middle-to-tip action rod with an extra flex in the top sections. This gave the blank a really smooth casting action allowing me to use a more relaxed, slightly longer casting stroke. The tip had a surprisingly fast recovery and when aerialising longer head lengths and double hauling to hit those distance marks the rod was a real joy to use. I had a little play about with the line weights from dedicated 6wts to 6/7wts and even a 5wt and came to the conclusion that it is bang on with its 6wt rating for floating lines. It handled various mini-tip and intermediate lines in a very similar fashion to the floater, while with medium to fast sinkers, a dual rated 5/6 line was more effective than a dedicated 6wt, reducing how droppered leaders that many reservoir anglers employ, whether it be from bank for boat, but in a lighter line class than some anglers may be used to. To get a full picture of the rod’s ability I was able to hook and play a few fish, and again this nice easy action removed all the guesswork on how much to lean into the rod and how hard to play the fish – simply put, the rod did it all for me! I think this rod would appeal to the novice caster who needs an extra bit of help with ironing out those little casting faults, and also the more experienced caster who will be able to extract the very best out of this easy-casting blank. Great off the bank Moving onto the 9ft 6in 7wt, I could feel a difference straight away as it has a very quick recovery and can positively ‘zip’ the line out on the forward cast. It has a slightly more ‘steely’ feel but is in no way poker- like. Even when faced with head-on winds I found I could really lean into this rod and with a double haul really punch the line out onto target. Turnover and presentation wasn’t compromised, even with a droppered leader. Its line rating is spot on not only for floaters and intermediates, but also for the faste sinking medium to extra fast sinkers. A great choice for the dedicated bank angler. VERDICT: These are accomplished, easy to cast rods that “When double hauling to hit distance marks the rod was a real joy to use.”
Transcript of New Gear - adh-fishing€¦ · fisherman.co.uk MARCH 29 - APRIL 25 | TROUT FISHERMAN 79 TECH-SPEC...
MARCH 29 - APRIL 25 | TROUT FISHERMAN 79www.troutfisherman.co.uk
TECH-SPEC
MODEL: 10FT 6WTPrice: £199.99Weight: 122gr (4.3oz)Sections: 4■ Full wells cork handle with composite cork band top and bottom; fixed cork/composite cork fighting butt; anodised alloy double ring uplocking reel seat ■ Matt olive green blank with clear gloss whippings■ Two lined stripping guides, eight single-leg snake rings, tip and keeper ring.■ Zip-top cordura covered rod tube with carry handle and partitioned interior
MODEL: 9FT 6IN 7WTPrice: £199.99Weight:■
top and bottom; fixed cork/
Tackle Tester’s ChoiceTester’s Choice
Weight: 119gr (4.2oz)■ All other tech specs the same
Easy-casting Onki is a pleasureVision Onki rod £199.99 www.guideflyfishing.co.uk
New GearEverything from rods to waders & fly patterns
Easy-casting Onki is a pleasure
Independent tester Independent tester Robbie Winram puts the latest gear through its pacesits paces
THE Onki rod range (Onki means rod and line in Finnish) consists of 11 models from a 7ft 6in 3wt to a 10ft 7wt, covering everything from rivers to stillwaters and reservoirs. I had a 10ft 6wt and 9ft 6in 7wt for review and although these were prototypes, only the handle and reel seat will be slightly different designs in the full production models.
Set up with a matching 6wt floating line, the 10ft 6wt certainly felt light and comfortable in the hand and the first few casts loaded the rod quickly with very little fuss. Straight away it felt very much like a middle-to-tip action rod with an extra flex in the top sections. This gave the blank a really smooth casting action allowing me to use a more relaxed, slightly longer casting stroke. The tip had a surprisingly fast recovery and when aerialising longer head lengths and double hauling to hit those distance marks the rod was a real joy to use.
I had a little play about with the line weights from dedicated 6wts to 6/7wts and even a 5wt and came to the conclusion that it is bang on with its 6wt rating for floating lines.
It handled various mini-tip and intermediate lines in a very similar fashion to the floater, while with medium to fast sinkers, a dual rated 5/6 line was more effective than a dedicated 6wt, reducing how hard the blank worked and giving a much easier cast, especially when aerialising and shooting line.
This rod is great for overhead and double hauling and is able to generate really
good continuous motion casts such as roll, switch and
snake which makes it very versatile.
At 10ft it is perfect for handling longer multi-
droppered leaders that many reservoir anglers employ, whether it be from bank for boat, but in a lighter line class than some anglers may be used to.
To get a full picture of the rod’s ability I was able to hook and play a few fish, and again this nice easy action removed all the guesswork on how much to lean into the rod and how hard to play the fish – simply put, the rod did it all for me!
I think this rod would appeal to the novice caster who needs an extra bit of help with ironing out those little casting faults, and also the more experienced caster who will be able to extract the very best out of this easy-casting blank.
Great off the bankMoving onto the 9ft 6in 7wt, I could feel a difference straight away as it has a very quick recovery and can positively ‘zip’ the line out on the forward cast. It has a slightly more ‘steely’ feel but is in no way poker-like. Even when faced with head-on winds I found I could really lean into this rod and with a double haul really punch the line out onto target. Turnover and presentation wasn’t compromised, even with a droppered leader. Its line rating is spot on not only for floaters and intermediates, but also for the faster for floaters and intermediates, but also for the faster sinking medium to extra fast sinkers. A great choice for the dedicated bank angler.
VERDICT: These are accomplished, easy to cast rods that are also a pleasure to fish with. The 10ft 6wt definitely has a softer tip which makes it perfect for floating and intermediate lines, dry fly and nymph fishing. It can handle and protect lighter tippets and is also incredibly accurate when it comes to presentation and turnover. The zippier 9ft 6in 7wt has more grunt so will happily toil away with a whole range of lines from floaters to sinkers all day long.
“When double hauling to hit distance marks the rod was a real joy to use.”
